1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to call-back requests, and, in particular, to a system and method for revoking multiple call-back requests in a coordinated manner.
2. Description of Related Art
Throughout a day, a caller (also referred to as a calling party) may make numerous attempts to call or establish sessions with a callee (also referred to as a called party). If a caller cannot immediately reach a first callee, the caller may call and attempt to reach a second callee. The second callee may also be unavailable, and this process may repeat.
If a called party is not available to accept an incoming request, many current communication systems often leave an indication that a call was missed and provide an easy means of returning the call. For example, browser-based systems based on Web Real-Time Communications (“WebRTC”), as developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (“W3C”) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (“IETF”), often provide a popup message notification and create a readily accessible return communication notification list. Traditional phone systems may provide a missed communication notification list that can be used to see who called and to return missed calls. Even if the caller did not leave a message with an explicit request for a call-back, the callee may treat the entry in the missed communication notification list as an implicit request to call back.
However, after some period of time, the need to return the call may no longer exist, or the original calling party may know that they will not be available to accept a return call (e.g., it is after close of business, or the original caller is in a meeting). However, the original callee may be unaware that the need to return the call has passed and may return the original call. The cycle may repeat, and the returned calls create an unnecessary game of “telephone tag.”
Traditional systems provide an explicit “leave word calling” feature with an explicit ability to cancel a single outstanding leave word calling request. Likewise, similar revocation notions exist for a single email message sent to one or more parties. However, if there is a series of back-and-forth messages (e.g., calls and call-backs), or single calls to multiple callees, each of the leave word calling requests must be cancelled individually in order to avoid unnecessary call-backs. There is no known method or system to cancel or revoke a series of related leave word calling requests.
Therefore, a need exists to avoid unnecessary returned calls, in order to avoid wasted time and effort, and ultimately improved customer satisfaction.